The Society was founded in 1905 when nine medical colleagues from Long Island, New York organized the first professional anesthesia society. The Society expanded to 23 members in 1911 and named itself the New York Society of Anesthetists.

As its purpose and scope of involvement in anesthesia-related issues grew and attracted other interested physicians nationwide, the Society changed its name to the American Society of Anesthetists in 1935 and then to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) in 1945. ASA moved its offices from New York to Chicago in 1947 and then to the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1960, where today it serves a membership of more than 44,000.